


Earlier Encounter

by cassikat



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Donna is Donna, Gen, Humor, Wilf is Awesome
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-17
Updated: 2017-08-17
Packaged: 2018-12-16 15:27:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 16,562
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11831589
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cassikat/pseuds/cassikat
Summary: One small change in action means the Doctor and Donna met one night earlier. That's going to change the Adipose situation quite a bit.





	1. An Alley Encounter

**Author's Note:**

> Author's Notes: Next on the transfer from FFN. This one's complete, though the last chapter's not beta'ed yet. I'll edit it when it gets the look-over.
> 
> Original AN: I've taken this one up off of tkel_paris' journal prompt list. This one's #26. It had several options for an earlier meeting between the Doctor and Donna in Partners in Crime, but I felt it'd be most likely for either the cubes moment or the alley. Picked the alley, cos it was slightly easier than the cubes...but I am going to work on one with the cubes, eventually. It's too funny an idea to resist forever. :D
> 
> So far as I have planned, this story is only going to be three, maybe four chapters long. There's just really nothing that would change that much from their meeting earlier to justify continuing it past the end of Partners in Crime. Of course, now that I've said that I'll likely think something up sometime... but if I do, it'll be it's own little stand-alone story.
> 
> Anyway! On with the story! In which Donna finds the Doctor early and makes rude mockery of his Adipose-tracking gizmo... something I can't help but do every time I watch the episode. ;D

 

* * *

 

Donna stood on the street, bewildered. Where could that little creature have got off to? And what would she do with it even if she found it? Stuff it in her handbag? Her handbag! She'd left it inside poor Stacy's house! She started to turn to go back 'round the back to get it, and a taxi pulled up.

"Stacy Campbell?"

"No, she's gone," Donna replied, still trying to get everything that had happened tonight straight in her head.

"Gone where?" The driver asked.

More of her attention set on how to figure out where the creature or creatures that used to be Stacy Campbell had gone, Donna just shook her head. "She's just gone."

"Oh, great. Thanks for nothing." As the driver flipped on his 'For Hire' light and drove off, a minor part of Donna noted that if she'd not been in shock she'd have shouted at him for blaming her for his lost fare. As it was, she simply stood there a moment more, then turned to go back down the alley she'd just run down such a short time ago. She did still have to get her handbag, after all.

Then she saw a familiar skinny back, topped by that familiar messy nest of hair, and her jaw dropped. It was the Doctor, it had to be! That hair, and those trainers, and… well, she guessed it was the same pinstripe suit under that trenchcoat. And of course he was walking away, the git. Well, why not chase him? Worst she could do is look like a fool, yeah?

Taking a few steps at a jog to close the distance, she called out. "Doctor?!"

He spun round, his gizmo pointing at- "Donna?!"

"It IS you!" She grinned and ran the last few feet between them, hugging him then pulling back to take a good look at him. "Oh, I can't believe it! You've even got the same suit on! But we've got to have words with your stylist, cos you look like a flippin' hedgehog now!"

Hugging being a natural reflex - especially when it was someone as well-cushioned as Donna Noble doing the hugging - the Doctor hugged her back. But when he pulled back, he was staring at her in utter, complete confusion. "Not that it's not nice to see you again, which it is, mind, even though you're mocking my hair. But... but... what are you doing here?"

"Looking for you... well, sort of. See, I've been looking for you for a while now, and I thought 'Well, how do you find the Doctor?'. And then I thought 'Look for trouble and he'll show up', and believe me, this Adipose stuff I've been looking into, that's trouble!"

She then grabbed him by the hand and dragged him down the alley to the gate that led to Stacy Campbell's house. "Won't be a minute, just need to get my handbag. Unless..." She trailed off, staring at him.

"Unless what? And why have you been looking for me?" The Doctor asked as he found himself in the unusual position of trying to keep up with a Human. Usually it was him making the unexpected direction changes, physically and mentally.

"Well, unless your penis-gizmo there's good for more than bad jokes and can figure out what happened to poor Stacy Campbell. I mean, one minute she was getting ready for a dump-him date, then the next she was completely vanished and her clothes were laying on the floor of the bathroom and there's this jelly-baby shaped thing waving at me and hopping out the window."

She opened the gate, then turned to stare at him and frowned, just a little. "And why wouldn't I look for you after it hit me what a big mistake I made turning you down?"

"It's not a penis-gizmo, Donna! It's an alien-tracking device. Like a dowsing rod is for finding water, only this finds aliens." And since it wasn't indicating any aliens in the vicinity, he stuffed it in one of his pockets.

Then he reached in his inner blazer pocket to pull out the sonic screwdriver. "Sonic screwdriver will be more specific anyway... and I thought you were going to travel the world?"

"It is so, even if you _can_ dowse for other aliens with it." She smirked at him as they walked to the back door. "Most I can say is that you're obviously not feeling the need to compensate if you can hold it in your hand." She shrugged as she led the way back into poor Stacy Campbell's house, with a pause by the chairs to scoop up her handbag.

"And I was going to travel. But... it's like... I had that one day with you, and I was going to change. I was going to do so much. Then I woke up the next morning, same old life, like you were never there. And I tried, I did try. I went to Egypt. I was going to go barefoot and everything. And then it's all bus trips and guidebooks and don't drink the water, and two weeks later you're back home. And then it's like it never happened. It's nothing like being with you."

He manfully refused to give her any more ammunition to tease him about the shape of his tracker, otherwise she'd never stop. Anyway, he was more interested in discovering if she was really serious about having changed her mind. "Even with the explosions and the risks to your life and the drowning spider-children? Which weren't actually children-children, you know."

"That's still in the top ten of the most horrible days of my life. And they may not have been babies or toddlers, but she was still their mother!" Donna glared at him, then led the way, handbag firmly on her shoulder.

"And she was still going to lead them into devouring the entire planet, Donna." He sighed and drooped his head. "I did offer her a choice, but she refused it which left me with _no_ choice."

"Oh all right. Fine. _That_ time you didn't have a choice." Up the stairs she went, quick-march, as though she was trying to get away from the topic.

He followed her up the stairs, curious for more than one reason. No one had ever turned him down and then changed their mind, much less managed to track him down later although admittedly their encounter tonight was purely accidental. But they'd have met within a day or two, since both of them were working on this Adipose puzzle. That had never happened before, and as they reached the bathroom, he asked, "So...you still want to come with me?"

On the landing, she turned to gawp at him, surprised. "You mean it? You really want me to come with you? Even though you know I'm going to argue with you and shout at you a lot?"

He looked up at her from two risers down and beamed. "I'd love it if you'd come with me. Arguments and all."

"Brilliant!" She backed up a bit to let him get on the landing, then hugged him briefly. Then she felt guilty for celebrating when there'd been a... well, a vanishing at the very least, and she let him go.

"Best celebrate later. Bathroom's here," she said as she led him to the door. "Had to break it open, and I was too late to help."

He took a look around the room, and his eyes locked onto the pile of clothes. "This is not good. And probably for the best that you didn't get in before it happened. Who knows what might have been done to you?"

"Wot, you think that jelly-baby thing wasn't alone? That I might have got hurt if I'd seen it happen?" Donna asked, feeling a frisson of fear before a slow-burning anger replaced it. "So, are you going to bleep or buzz or whatever so we can find out who did this and give'em what-for?"

"Working on it, Donna," he said as he started scanning. "I'm picking up traces of the same alien life form I've been tracking, but no trace of anything human, no trace at all. Whatever happened here, there's absolutely no sign that Stacy Campbell even existed. It's like she was completely subsumed..."

"Turned into that jelly-baby thing, you mean? It all happened so fast, but I swear that's what I saw. She screamed for help, and it only took me maybe ten seconds to burst the door open. But she was gone and there was one little thing, about so tall, stood in the window there." She demonstrated the size and general shape of it with her hands, then continued. "Whitish, but shaped like a jelly-baby."

"It was more than just the one. The strength of the signal I picked up with my tracker indicated a lot of them. Which means something happened to trigger a massive conversion of human to alien life."He rose from the squat he'd dropped into and took Donna by the arm. "Come on, won't do us any good to get spotted here."

"Yeah," she replied as she followed him back down, then outside and back into the alley. "But what do you mean, massive conversion?"

"Whatever is in those Adipose pills is, in it's ordinary function, turning precisely one kilo - or two point two pounds - of human fat into those little things you saw. Every night, the fat just walks away. Literally. But with Stacy Campbell, it obviously used her entire body, so it's not just fat that it can convert."

He tapped his finger against his lips in thought, then took Donna by the hand again. "Come on, TARDIS."

"And just where's the TARDIS from here?" She asked, digging her heels in.

"Er, about five miles that way," he said, gesturing vaguely down the alley the way he'd come.

"Right. I'm not walking that far, not this time of night, and especially not in these shoes. Not when I've got car right over here," she scoffed and half-dragged him back down the alley to the street.

"Oh no... please tell me it's not that Smart..." he whinged as he followed her back down to the road.

"That was Lance's. No, borrowed my mum's car, have to get it back by some time tonight. Still," she said as they reached it and she bleeped it unlocked with the keychain. "It'll save us time getting to the TARDIS."

"Yeah," he allowed as he got in the passenger seat and belted up. "It will. And, if you trust me, I can use the TARDIS to get it back to your mum."

"Sounds good to me." She fastened her seatbelt, started the engine, then asked, "Which way?"

He pointed. "That way." And she put the car in gear and drove off.

 

* * *

 

He'd amazed Donna by getting the car inside the TARDIS, then been amazed by the amount of luggage she was toting around in anticipation of finding him. Then they'd taken a few minutes to find a bedroom for her to leave the luggage in and went to the console room, where he took apart the pendant he'd confiscated and examined it with a magnifying glass. "Ooh, fascinating. Seems to be a bio-flip digital stitch here."

"And what's that for, when it's at home?" Donna asked with a raised eyebrow at the technobabble.

"Bio-flip - flips biology, basically. The digital stitch tells the circuitry the strength of signal to send. So it transmits a signal every night, and one kilo of drug-laden fat converts and walks away. Presumably to be collected by whoever was driving that van I was chasing... which means someone sent both them and the signal to override the digital stitch. The signal to completely convert Stacy Campbell, the person or persons to collect the result."

"So... the pendant sends a signal to trigger the drug-filled fat to make a fat-person? And how come the customers don't show any signs of illness from losing so much weight so fast? I mean, poor Stacy lost eleven pounds in five days, but she was healthy and didn't show any signs of it, other than loose clothes. You'd think there'd be sagging skin or something."

"Not if it uses the excess skin to make its own skin." He put the pendant back together and put it in his pocket, then made a wibbly hand and shrugged. "You know, as a diet plan it kind of works."

"Except for the part where there's someone in charge of it all who doesn't mind murdering people to speed up making little fat people!" Donna snapped, glowering because lots more people were in danger of dying just like poor Stacy.

"Well, yeah, except for that." He nodded in agreement, then said. "It's getting a bit late - you said you wanted to get the car back tonight, right?" He started laying in coordinates for the house he'd dropped Donna off at last time, but got interrupted.

"We live with Granddad now. Dad died of cancer this last year - the one reason I'm glad I didn't leave with you the first time - and we couldn't keep that old house." She gave him the address and sighed. "I'm going to have to come up with something to tell Mum... at least Granddad will be easy."

"I'm sorry about your dad, Donna," he said and rested a hand on hers briefly, then fed in the new coordinates and they spent the brief minutes of transit in silence.

"Yeah," she said and gratefully absorbed his sympathy while they made the short hop. Once they landed, she shook herself back into action. "Right. You get the car parked in the drive, I'll go in and give Mum the keys. I'll probably be a bit, she'll want to nag."

He gave her a wry smile and waved at the door. "I think I'll skip, if you don't mind. She was mad enough that I ruined the reception to stop those Robot Santas. She might try and slap me this time, and I've had enough of that for a while." He rubbed his cheek. remembering the slaps both Jackie and Francine had got him with. Not to mention Donna's own slaps, and Sylvia was her mother... yep. Best to just stay safe in the TARDIS.

"Can't say as I blame you. She can hold a grudge forever." She smiled a bit, then said. "All right. You stay here where it's safe, and I'll go suffer. And don't forget to park the car!"

"I'll be here with tea and sympathy when you get back." He was still smiling as she walked out of the TARDIS, and grinned when she paused and half-turned, lips parted as though she was going to say something like stay put. "Go on, I really will be here. I promise."

Then he turned to the console and said. "Well Old Girl, looks like we're not going to be alone after all." He bounced over and started working the controls, dematerialising the ship while leaving the car behind in the drive.

Then he poked his head out the door, made a face and groaned when he saw the car had been left perpendicular to the drive, and popped back in to fix that minor bobble in positioning. It was a good thing Donna had missed that, he thought. She very likely would have teased him relentlessly about his poor parking skills.

 

* * *

 

Somewhat over half an hour later, the Doctor was beyond fidgety, and just about to go brave the fearsome den of yet another companion's mother, when Donna opened the door of the TARDIS and took one step inside. He noticed she'd changed while she'd been gone, from that smart suit into jeans with brown boots topped off by something he couldn't quite make out under that thigh-length cardigan and the extraordinarily long blue scarf. Not quite as long as his fourth self's scarves, but long enough that she wouldn't be able to make mock of them if she found them in the Wardrobe.

He grinned and bounced a bit. "Well! Off we go to tomorrow morning then?"

Donna rolled her eyes and asked, "You sure you actually found someone after I turned you down? Cos if you had, I'd think you'd remember we humans need sleep every night."

Then she grinned at him and waggled a thermos. "I was just about to go up the hill to tell Granddad, and I thought you'd maybe like to come along. He lives for all this, stargazing and aliens, and I thought it'd be a treat for him to meet a real live alien."

Suddenly uncertain, she looked at the toes of her well-worn but well-kept boots. "'Course, if you'd rather not, I understand..."

"No, I'd love to!" He smiled for the fondness she held for her granddad and pulled his coat off the pillar and swirled it around him as he followed her out. Even if the old fellow did gush embarrassingly, he'd handle it for the sake of the smile it would put on Donna's face.

After they'd reached the start of the hill, he cleared his throat and asked. "So...how'd things go with your mother?"

"Couldn't get a word in edgewise, as usual. I'll have to write her a letter or something just to be able to tell her I won't be around, much less anything else." She paused when they got just to the edge of the allotment. "I want to at least try and figure out how to break you to him, first. D'you mind?"

"No, of course not. It's a lovely clear night, stars are out... I can see why he loves to stargaze from up here." He stuffed his hands in his pockets and smiled, absently noticing how much he'd been smiling around Donna and he'd not even properly had her around for an hour. Just like when he'd first met her, and she'd made him smile even though he'd wanted to mope and sulk about losing Rose. But Donna was just so vibrant and full of life that he couldn't help but smile when she was around - she made him feel young again. Well, _younger_ , anyway.

"Thanks." Donna grinned and walked along the path through a well-tended allotment.

He kept an eye on her back as she walked along. Then his eyes widened in surprise as he recognised the voice of her granddad. Ooh, this could possibly be trouble - he'd vanished right in front of the gent just this past Christmas!

"Aye, aye. Here comes trouble," Wilf said as he made his way from the shed to his camp chair.

"Permission to board ship, sir?" Donna picked her way through the rest of the allotment and stood by the shed, grinning as they traded salutes. Just like always.

"Permission granted. Was she nagging you?"

Donna rolled her eyes and laughed, then passed the thermos to him before she went to the shed. "Big time. Brought you a thermos."

"Oh, ta." He took it and poured out a cup after he settled in.

"You seen anything?" Donna was in the shed at the moment, getting that old tarp they'd used for ages for stargazing, and trying to figure out how to tell her granddad about the Doctor. Poor man had to be bored to tears already, just stood there listening to them and doing nothing. She'd have to check on the way back down the hill, make sure he hadn't fiddled about with anything from boredom.

"Yeah, I've got Venus there, with an apparent magnitude of minus three point five. At least, that's what it says in my little book." He slurped a bit from that plastic cup as she spread the tarpaulin on the ground and knelt on it. "Here, come and see. Come on, here you go. Right?"

Donna grinned at her granddad and peered through the telescope. Of course, at this distance it was only a little round dot, kind of bluish. Hmm...maybe she'd ask the Doctor if it was ever safe enough to go to Venus...

"That's the only planet in the Solar System named after a woman." Wilf said after his granddaughter took another peek through the telescope.

"Good for her," Donna said as she continued to stare at that little blue dot. "How far away is that?"

"Oh, its about twenty six million miles. But we'll get there, one day. In a hundred years' time we'll be striding out amongst the stars. Jiggling about with all them aliens. Just you wait."

Oh bless you, Granddad, she thought as she sat back on her heels. That was a perfect opening if she'd ever heard one. "Granddad... if you _could_ meet an alien, would you really want to?"

He gave her a sharp look and raised an eyebrow. "Aye aye, what's all this then?"

"Oh just answer the question, Granddad." She almost made a face at him.

"Course I would, sweetheart. If I sit here long enough, I may even see one. But why'd you ask?"

"Because..." She trailed off and sighed and looked down at her knees. "I... I wasn't completely honest about what happened at my failed wedding. Nor about what happened to Lance. And I'm going to be leaving, tomorrow, with the alien who saved my life then, and we're going to be travelling out there..."

"Sweetheart," Wilf said as he turned in his chair and gave her a sad, sympathetic look. "I knew you've been different since then, but I never dreamed..."

"It wasn't the worst thing that could've happened. Top ten on the horrible days of my life, but not the worst." With a bit of effort, she shrugged away the remembered pain of Lance's betrayal and all the terror of the Racnoss, and managed a wry smile. "Anyway, d'you want to meet the bloke who saved me?"

"Course I do, sweetheart! And shake his hand and thank him for saving our little general." Wilf smiled at his granddaughter, knowing no amount of winkling would get the story out of her. She'd tell in her own time or not at all... but maybe this alien bloke would help her tell the tale...

"Brilliant!" She grinned and rose up on her knees and turned around. "Doctor? You can come over now!"

Wilf turned further in his camp chair as he heard footsteps on the path, then he almost fell over backward in his astonishment. Yeah, the bloke was wearing a suit and long coat instead of a tux now, but it was still him! The man who'd vanished in front of him Christmas Eve! "Ah! It's you!"

The Doctor walked closer, a grin on his face. "Oh, it's you, isn't it? The newspaper man."

"That's me," Wilf said, grinning as he stood up. "Wilf, sir. Wilfred Mott."

"What? You two have met before?" Donna got to her feet, eyes wide and jaw dropped in astonishment as her granddad went over to shake the Doctor's hand.

"Yeah. Christmas Eve. He vanished right in front of me!"

"And you never said?! Oh, the cheek!" She could've found the Doctor months ago, if only he'd told her!

"Well, you never said, did you now?" Wilf gave his granddaughter a pointed look, reminding her of just a minute or so ago.

As Donna deflated, the Doctor smiled wryly at Wilf. "It's hard for people to admit meeting aliens, much less everything that happened to her. And... sorry about vanishing in front of you like that. Circumstances beyond my control."

"Ah, that's all right. Got me prepared for what happened in the morning, didn't it?" Wilf said with a chuckle as he shooed his granddaughter back to the tarp and led the Doctor over as well. "Blimey, can't even tell anyone I've shaken a real alien's hand, much less straighten out most I know about the Titanic replica almost crashing into Buckingham Palace. Even madam there thinks that was a hoax."

"Oh. My. God. You mean that really was real? It wasn't a hoax?!" Donna sort of collapsed back on the tarp, just staring at her granddad and the Doctor.

"Yup," the Doctor said. "Of course, if I hadn't taken the risk and nearly crashed it into Buckingham Palace to use the heat of reentry to restart the engines, it would've crashed into a worse spot and destroyed all life on Earth, so it's a good thing I was there."

"Is that what you do then? Save the planet from other aliens?" Wilf asked as he sat back in his chair. "Er, I'd offer you a cuppa, but I've only got the one cup."

"We-ell, sometimes," the Doctor said, scratching the back of his neck as he sat down beside Donna, then pulled out two plastic mugs from his pocket. "Aha! Cups! I think Donna especially could use a cuppa."

"Yeah..." Donna mumbled as she tried to get everything straight in her head. Wilf filled the three cups then sat back in his chair.

"Now I know that wasn't the only time you saved people - Donna just barely mentioned you'd saved her, so I'm guessing you had something to do with stopping that webby star ship thing shooting everyone, Christmas two years ago."

"No, that was actually the military that dealt with the Webstar," the Doctor said as he handed Donna one of the cups. "I'm the one who drained the Thames to drown the Racnoss that belonged to the Webstar so they wouldn't eat the entire planet. Saved Donna in the process... but then again, she saved me too. Can't imagine what would have happened if she hadn't been there..."

"You'd probably have drowned, you daft twit," Donna groused. "Stood there all raging and fire and ice and watching those spider things drown until there wasn't any time left for you to get out."

"Probably," he admitted, then smiled. "But you were there, so I'll never have to find out."

"Yeah," she nodded, and smiled back at him, not noticing her granddad raise both eyebrows, then nod with a tiny smile.

"Aye aye, sounds like a story to me!" Wilf said with enthusiasm. Donna traded looks with the Doctor, then sighed. She may as well tell the one person in her family who'd actually believe her. "Well it all started when I vanished from my wedding and appeared on his ship..."

For the next hour, they traded telling Wilf the story of what really happened two Christmas Eves ago, with questions from the old man occasionally interjected and answered. But it didn't really break the flow of the story, and finally Donna finished with, "And then I turned him down and, except for finally being told Dad had cancer and being grateful that I could be there in his last days, I regretted it from waking up the next day."

"So that's why you've seemed like you've been drifting, sweetheart," Wilf said, his sharp eyes noticing the comforting squeeze from the Doctor that his granddaughter accepted and returned without protest. "You've been looking for the Doctor all this time. And now, now you're going out there to really see it all." He sat back and smiled wistfully. "You'll bring a bit of those stars back for your old Granddad, won't you?"

"Oh yeah, you better believe it," Donna said with a brilliant smile and reached over to grab her granddad's hand.

"Well, we're not leaving quite yet," the Doctor said. "Got another little bit of alien trouble popped up that we've got to stop before more people get hurt. But after that, yeah, I can bring her back every so often. In fact..." he trailed off as he pulled out his sonic screwdriver. "You got a mobile, Wilf?"

"Yeah," Wilf said and pulled it out of his jacket pocket. "Mind, I mostly only use it for keeping track of time... what are you going to do with it?"

"Oh, just a little enhancement. Hand it over, won't hurt it a bit - yours too, Donna." He held out his hand and got Wilf's phone, but only a glare from Donna.

"And just what are you planning on doing to our mobiles?"

"I'm going to... extend the coverage. Just a bit... well, all right, a lot. Going to make it so you and your granddad can call each other no matter where or when we're at. Is that all right?"

"And they'll still work? You're not going to accidentally blow them up?" Donna asked, digging out her mobile as she asked. "They'll still work. But no, you can't get free minutes," he added with a grin as she handed him her phone.

"How'd you know what I was going to ask next?" She tilted her head to the side curiously as she watched him bleep first her granddad's phone, then hers. Then he added a number to her granddad's.

"Because I thought you might. And free minutes would be cheating." He grinned at her, then continued. "And I added the TARDIS - that's the name of my ship, by the way Wilf, the TARDIS. Anyway, I added her number to your phonebook, just in case Donna forgets to charge her battery one day."

"Oh, can we show him the TARDIS?" Donna asked, giving the Doctor puppy-eyes. "Please? Just the console room? Please, please, please?"

"Welllll..." He pretended reluctance, which he knew Wilf caught on to from the grin on his face and gleam in his eyes. Then Donna amped up the puppy-eyes to eleven, complete with pout and wibbly lower lip, and the Doctor sighed for more than one reason. "Oh all right. Come on you two, let's go back to the Old Girl."

"Brilliant!" She leant over and gave him a tight hug, then leapt to her feet. "First we put everything away, then we give Granddad a peek!"

As they packed up the stargazing kit, the Doctor found himself hoping he never gave Donna cause to use puppy-eyes on him for real. Hers were far better than his - he'd felt like he'd do almost anything she asked, if she looked at him like she did at the end.

And may all the powers in the Universe help him if she ever cried in his presence. He'd never be able to resist her in tears.


	2. Fly Me To The Moon

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: Yes, I know, huge change. But c'mon, Wilf's like everyone's favourite granddad, and it was so unfair he never got to see anywhere, really. So I indulged my fantasies :D Ignore anything I say about the Moon, though. It's probably all wrong, but it's hard to research with very little access to the 'Net.

 

* * *

 

When Wilf got his first sight of the outside of the TARDIS he stared from the Doctor to Donna, then back at the box they said was a ship. "It's a bit small, innit? Looks a bit cramped in there even for one, much less both of you."

"It's bigger on the inside, Gramps. Really it is," Donna said, grinning. "Come on, we'll give you a peek," she added as the Doctor unlocked the door.

Wilf hung back a bit as first the Doctor, then his granddaughter walked into that tiny blue box. Then he stepped forward to follow them, but stopped on the threshold, eyes bigger than saucers. Then he stepped back out - still the same old Police Box he used to see so many of back in the days before phones became common and policemen got radios. He even stepped to the side to make sure it hadn't got bigger on him while he was looking in. Then he stepped all the way inside that impossible box and shook his head. "How...?"

"Dimensionally transcendental." Then the Doctor explained a bit further because Donna was glaring at him. "The inside of the TARDIS is actually a pocket dimension, only connected to the rest of the universe by the shell and the doors there. Otherwise she'd be the size of one of the bigger asteroids, easily, just to hold the engines and power plants required for travel."

"Which wouldn't exactly be the most inconspicuous thing for travelling, would it?" Donna asked with a smirk. "Course, I can't say a police box is the most inconspicuous thing either..."

"We-ell, we popped into the '60's and her chameleon circuit got stuck. I've fixed it a few times, but I think she just likes the shape, cos she keeps breaking it again." He rubbed the back of his neck and smiled at Wilf, missing Donna's semi-amused eye-roll.

"So... obviously there's more than just this room," Wilf finally said as he walked over to join them, then did a slow turn to take in the whole thing.

"Yup! Ten bedrooms, all en-suite, kitchen, two swimming pools, two libraries, uncountable storage rooms, several laboratories, sick-bay, recreation room with lots of games, a telly room, and quite a few environmental garden-type rooms. As well as the power stacks, environmental control room and so on."

"Why two libraries?" Donna asked. Two swimming pools she could understand, sort of...but two libraries?

"Oh, one's small, only has the books I've collected over the years. The other one's huge, has rooms for each world the Time Lords ever collected information on. And each one's bigger than the British Library in London... each also has a computer to find and fetch whatever you're looking for." He shrugged after thinking a moment. "The small library has a computer like that too, which is why I've not been in the big one in... ooh, a very, very, very long time."

"I bet you have to use that computer to tell you where the books in the small library are too," Donna grinned at the Doctor and nudged him gently with an elbow.

"Nope. It's actually organised... although I'll have to teach you the method. Or you can just use the computer." He grinned at Donna and gently nudged her back. That was nice, not being slapped or swatted.

"Sounds like you could spend a lot of time just exploring the ship," Wilf said with a wistful smile. Oh, that he was young enough to go with them!

"Well, yeah, over a year I think. But like I said, a lot of it's storage rooms. And the Old Girl constantly rearranges the halls to cut down the length of time from place to place."

"Does she?" Donna asked, blinking at him. Then she grinned and grabbed her granddad's hand. "This is going to be brilliant! Quick tour, cos you have got to see what the TARDIS set up for my bedroom!"

Wilf gave the Doctor a worried look, since Donna had only got permission to show him the control room, but at his smile and nod he let his granddaughter drag him off nattering a mile a minute.

About ten minutes later, Wilf came back to the console room alone, looking rather odd. Worried was the main part of his expression, though, so of course the Doctor had to ask. "Something go wrong?"

"What?" Wilf said, startled. Then he shook his head. "Not really..."

"'Not really' means something's wrong." The Doctor raised an eyebrow and waited.

"Well it's not your ship!" Wilf managed a laugh and shook his head. "I mean, it's not really normal to have a ship respond to comments and compliments, and I never thought I'd see anything like that in all my days, but I'm not the one who's going. Donna is, and she was nattering away with your ship when I left, both of 'em chiming and giggling away at each other."

Wilf took a few steps closer to the Doctor and gave him a worried frown. "The thing is, Doctor, that Donna is my only grandchild. You got to promise me you're going to take care of her. No matter how much she protests about it, promise me."

"I will, Wilf." The Doctor smiled, then it went rueful. "Thing is, I think she's going to be the one taking care of me."

"That'd be just like my Donna," Wilf said with a laugh. "Yeah, she's always bossing us round since she was tiny. The Little General, we used to call her. D'you know," Wilf added, leaning in a bit closer. "She got told 'no holiday' the year she was six. And d'you know what she did?"

"Haven't a clue," the Doctor replied with an amused grin.

"Toddled off all on her own on a bus to Strathclyde! Had the police out looking for her and everything, we did. So you see, she's got history of travelling, and now you two are going to be out there, seeing all there is to see." Wilf sighed then, wistfully. "Wish I was even ten years younger, but travel like that's for the young."

"Maybe." The Doctor paused, because he heard the sound of Donna's laugh as she approached the console room. When she walked in, he grinned at Wilf. "But I do know one place I could take you, completely safe it is. I mean, that is, if you're interested. Consider it a 'thank you' for letting me take Donna with me."

"Interested?" Wilf beamed and clapped his hands together, looking younger than his years. "You'd best believe I'm interested! What are we waiting for?"

"An explanation, maybe?" Donna said, frowning at the Doctor. "A destination, possibly?"

"Ah, where's the fun in that? You'd spoil the surprise that way!" He grinned at Donna, then gave her a hint of puppy-eyes. "Trust me?"

"Well duh!" She snorted at him, then led her granddad to the seat. "Might want to sit down, Gramps. It can get a little bumpy."

"Bet that's half the fun, sweetheart." But he didn't protest at being made to sit.

Moments later, the ship started wheezing and juddering, with the Doctor dancing around the console, flipping levers and twisting dials in an apparently random order. Then the ship made a soft 'thud' and a gentle bong, and the Doctor grinned at both of them as he made one final adjustment to the controls. "Come on, let's go have a look."

He bounded to the doors, with Donna and Wilf following behind, slightly slower. Then he turned to face them, his hand on the latch. "Now, I said it was completely safe, and it is as long as you don't go more than three yards from the TARDIS. But that should be enough room to have a really good look."

Wilf was as excited as a child, and so was Donna. She tossed her head, ginger hair flipping behind her shoulders, and said. "So? What are you waiting for?"

He just grinned and pulled the doors open. Then he stood to the side and motioned them to join him. "Pretty good, isn't it?"

Donna and Wilf stared, eyes huge as saucers, at what was outside those doors. An airless, rocky landscape, with mountains in the distance, and above those mountains, much, much larger than the Moon had ever been on Earth... was the Earth.

After a minute, Wilf wheezed out an astonished, delighted laugh. "The Moon! Blimey, you took us to the Moon! But... you said we can step outside, just as we are? How's that work?"

"It's the final adjustments I made before I came to open the doors. I extended an atmospheric shell around the TARDIS and added a touch of artificial gravity so we could go out safely and get a good look at the place." The Doctor grinned and waved his hand at the outdoors. "Shall we?"

"You. Are. Impossible!" Donna grinned, gave the Doctor a quick hug, then stepped outside, followed by her granddad.

The Doctor grinned as he followed them out. "Here we are, basking in the Earthlight. Bet neither of you thought you'd ever see this."

"It's brilliant," Donna breathed from the edge of the atmospheric shell. "But... won't there be problems later? I mean, aren't there going to be people here in the future? They'll see our footprints, won't they?"

"Not here, nope." The Doctor stuffed his hands in his pockets and stood beside her. "No one's ever going to use this crater for anything. It's why I picked it out."

"Oh. Well, that's good then. But they don't know what they're missing." Donna grinned at the sight before her and unconsciously leaned her head on the Doctor's shoulder. "It's... it's just..."

"Yeah, it is." He absently wrapped his arm around her shoulders as the Earth rose a little higher and lit patches of the ground sparkling.

"What's all that sparkling stuff?" Wilf asked as he finally worked up the nerve to join them right there at the edge.

"Quartz, mostly," The Doctor said with a head-bob. "Quartz, obsidian, and olivine crystals, made from the heat of the impact of the asteroid that made the crater. It's rare the Earth's at the right quarter and angle to set it all glittering like this. We just got lucky enough that this is one of those nights."

"Don't suppose we could get a souvenir while we're here, could we? I mean, since no one's ever going to come here, we could get a moon rock each, right?" Donna gave the Doctor a hopeful look, but she wasn't going to pull the eyes on him this time. If he said no there'd be a good reason for it.

"Shouldn't be any harm to it, though I hope you both know you can't ever show them to anyone." The Doctor frowned in thought, then added. "I'll give the rocks you pair pick out a quick scan, just in case this particular asteroid left any microbes behind."

"It's not the showing off part that matters, though it'd be nice to," Wilf said. "What it is, is that there's proof that we've been. Me, Wilfred Mott. Been to the Moon."

The Doctor looked around their small safe area, then bent over and picked up a rock with an olivine crystal peeping out. A quick scan with his sonic later and the rock was handed to Wilf. "There you go - hand picked by the expert."

Wilf shook his head, grinning, even as he put the rock in his pocket. "Oh, the secrets I've got now. Shaken an alien's hand, and had that same hand pick me out a moon rock!"

"And your granddaughter running around with that same alien, don't forget that secret," Donna added, then handed the Doctor an oddly-shaped rock.

"Why'd you pick this one out, Donna?" Was the query asked, while another scan was performed. It wasn't anything special, just an odd-shaped rock with a mostly-flat part.

"Cos," she started when he handed it back. "I can sit it on a flat surface and it looks a bit like some of those mountains there. Then I can look at it and remember the Earth rising like that over the mountains."

Her granddad and the Doctor both watched as she balanced the rock on her palm, then they both turned to look. Sure enough, it did look like a bit of the mountainside in miniature.

After Donna tucked her souvenir moon-rock away in a pocket, they spent another half-hour just looking out at the Moon, the Earth, and asking the Doctor questions. Then Wilf yawned, and the Doctor ushered them both back inside, then brought them back to his front lawn.

"You're not coming in, sweetheart?" Wilf paused in the door of the TARDIS and looked at his granddaughter.

"Well, I might. If I can figure out how to write Mum a letter - she was full speed nagging and not letting me get a word in edgewise. Otherwise, probably not. The Doctor and I still have this Adipose thing to take care of before anyone else dies of it." Donna sighed sadly, and hugged her granddad.

"You'll manage to fix it. I've got faith in both of you." Wilf smiled at the Doctor, then hugged his granddaughter. "Meantime, you work on a way to explain it all."

"I'll do my best," Donna said and squeezed her granddad tight before letting him go. "Anyway, off to bed with you before you fall asleep out here!"

"Aye aye, bossing me around again," he said with a fond, sad smile. "Going to miss that."

"We'll pop back 'round every so often for visits, Wilf. I promise." The Doctor smiled and went to shake Wilf's hand, but was surprised when he was pulled into a hug too.

"Take care of her, Doctor. She's better than she thinks she is." Wilf whispered, then clapped the Doctor on the back and let him go.

"I promise," the Doctor murmured, just before he was released. Then he joined Donna in the doorway and waved to Wilf when he paused on the threshold of his home. Once the door of the house was shut, he shut the TARDIS doors, then took a good look at Donna, who was looking quite tired now. "I suppose you're going to want to sleep now?"

"Yeah," Donna sighed, then gave him a sad smile. "I'll probably have nightmares, but if I'm going to be any help at all, I've got to get some rest."

"If you want to talk..." He trailed off, suddenly tentative and unsure. He was rubbish at reassuring anyone, but Donna was different. He wanted to make her happy and keep her that way, and... he redirected his train of thought with some force. He didn't want to think about why he wanted to make her happy - if he let himself do that, he'd have nightmares of his own.

"Meh. Ask me again if I wake up with a nightmare, skinnyboy." She frowned at him, head tilted. "Don't you need sleep too?"

"Me? Nah! Sleep is for tortoises!" He grinned at her, then dodged a swat aimed at his arm.

"Go pull the other one, Doctor. Everyone needs to at least rest. Even skinny energetic aliens."

"Yes, but I rest differently than Humans do. I could get my week's allotment of sleep in the amount of time you're going to be oblivious to the world just tonight." He smiled, then rested a hand on her arm. "Honestly, Donna. I have a different sleep cycle than you do, that's all."

She stared hard at him, but couldn't detect a lie - and she could tell, she'd been able to tell even when they'd first met when he was lying. So she nodded and sighed. "I'll try and write Mum that letter first, then I'll go to bed. You go hang upside down from the ceiling for an hour or whatever it is you need to do, cos well-rested is lots better than trying to slog through when your brain's not working."

"I am not a Krillitane, Donna. I don't sleep upside down." He grinned, though, and walked with her through the halls of the TARDIS until they got to her room.

"Wot's this Krillitane nonsense? I was alluding to you being a bat, cos of that sonic you love to bleep everything with."

"Oh, Krillitanes are sort of bat-like, but they're much larger than Earth bats and, except when they're mimicking other races, they sleep upside down from the ceiling. When I do sleep it's horizontal, on a comfortable platform." He made a face and frowned at her. "And I love my sonic screwdriver - it's the most useful tool I've ever had!"

"Yeah, yeah, and how you tell all those bleeps and buzzes apart is a complete mystery," Donna smirked at him, letting the Krillitane thing go for now. People-sized bat-things were not something she wanted to know more about right before bed!

"It is not," he said with a mock-pout. "Just because you've not got sensitive enough ears is no reason to mock my screwdriver."

She really should go in her room and say goodnight, she really should. But she just couldn't resist asking, "Have you ever used it as a screwdriver?"

"Yup!" He grinned at her. "And a screw-loosener, a door-opener, oooh, so many things you can do with properly modulated sound-waves!"

"Oh God, I've fallen in with the universe's oldest kid," Donna groaned, but she did have a bit of a smile on her face. Well, before she yawned, anyway.

"You go get some sleep, Donna. Write the letter in the morning when you can focus better." He gave her a fond smile, then opened the door for her and got a glimpse of the room within. Not much, just enough to see that the Old Girl had given her much more than a bed, a wardrobe and a dresser. There was a desk, and a reading chair, and... lots of luggage, oops. He'd never given her time to unpack.

"Yeah. Good idea. G'night... see you in the morning, Doctor." Donna smiled at him, covered another yawn, then stepped in her room and gently shut the door. Through the door, she heard him say, "Pleasant dreams," and she wondered if she'd actually have any. Tonight had been so stressful, even though some of it was good stress, that she wouldn't be surprised if she had nightmares the whole eight hours.

Out in the hall, the Doctor grinned. He was going to really enjoy having Donna along with him. Oh, he enjoyed all of his companions' company, but Donna was going to be extra-enjoyable. She was so stroppy and challenging, yet she cared so much and wasn't afraid to let it show.

And he was so pleased to have her around again, he didn't even protest when he found his room, door open, across the hall from her room. The Old Girl and Donna were probably right, he thought as he walked in and closed the door. A rest would be good for both of them.

 

* * *

 

When she woke, Donna was surprised to find she'd apparently had such a restful slumber that she hadn't even moved, much less been woken by nightmares. As she sat up, a bit stiff from not moving for so long, she looked at the ceiling. "Did you keep me from having nightmares?"

A soft carillon of bells was her answer, somewhat confusing, but Donna thought it meant 'yes' so she smiled. "Thanks. Now, did himself get any sleep?"

The tinkle of bells that Donna interpreted as a giggle chimed, and Donna grinned. "Well, that's good. Means I won't have to deal with a sulky, sleep-deprived spaceman. Is he up?"

The carillon sounded again, and Donna threw off the covers and stood up. "Well, I'd best get moving then! Quick shower, then I'll have to straighten this mop before I can come out. If he asks, just tell him I'm getting ready, all right?"

The TARDIS chimed agreement, and Donna strode toward the en suite, shedding her pyjamas as she walked. That daft spaceman better know how to knock, if he showed up, or she'd slap him into next week!

Twenty-five minutes later, thanks to some super outer-space straightener the TARDIS supplied, Donna walked into the kitchen to find the Doctor putting the finishing touches on a full English breakfast. Both her eyebrows tried to meet her fringe, and she stood in the door gawping until he noticed her.

"Hullo, Donna! Ready for breakfast then?" He grinned at her and waved at the table.

"You cooked all that?" She waved at the table, still a bit gobsmacked.

"Yup!" He replied, still grinning.

"And you're going to eat with me?" She started for the table, still with eyebrows raised.

"Unless you'd rather eat alone, yup!" He stood by the table, ready to leave or sit as she preferred.

"Not after you went to so much trouble. Was just asking in case you had some weird thing about eating with people," she smiled at his head-shake and sat, then shooed him to the other side of the table.And for a few minutes, neither of them said anything in favour of filling the gaping caverns that their stomachs were pretending to be.

Until Donna, who had been watching him eat, frowned and asked. "Spaceman, how do you stay so skinny when you eat like this?"

He swallowed, then replied with a bit of a shrug as he didn't want to go in-depth about his biology this morning. "Good metabolism and lots of running?"

"Oh lovely. Lots of running - not sure I'll be able to keep up, though." She sighed and went back to her meal. She was starving, but she was also wondering if she should stop soon, just in case they had to run before she'd digested his surprisingly good meal.

"Why do you say that?" The Doctor frowned, confused. "You're a diver, means you've got strong muscles and you'll be able to keep up. Certainly lots easier than Martha did before she got used to all the running."

"I've also got extra pounds that I don't need," she huffed and almost pushed her plate away.

"You might think so," the Doctor mumbled around the last of a bite of food, then continued with more clarity after he swallowed. "But Titian, Botticelli and so many other artists would give quite a lot to have you for a model."

"Really?" She tilted her head at him. "Really?"

"Yup!" He grinned at her and refilled her teacup, then offered. "After we've sorted this little mess, I could take you then..."

"Well...maybe." She sugared her tea, added a dollop of milk, then asked. "So, Martha?"

"Mm." he nodded, then swallowed. "Martha Jones. She was brilliant. And I destroyed half her life. But she's fine, she's good. She's gone."

"Destroyed half her life?!"

"Well, it wasn't precisely my fault. But if she'd never gone travelling with me, nothing would have happened to her." He looked down at his plate, afraid to look up and find out that Donna had changed her mind.

"But if it wasn't your fault, why are you taking the blame for it all?" Donna was confused, but she wasn't going to change her mind. Barmy alien dimnoid would probably go find some posh bit of totty instead, and get into trouble cos the chit couldn't keep up.

"I don't want to talk about it right now, is that all right?" He still didn't look up, until he felt her hand settle over his. And all he could see in her eyes when he dared look was compassion.

"Yeah, that's fine. But, just so you know, I'm ready to listen when you want to talk, all right?" She smiled at him, a little sad, understanding smile, then patted his hand and went back to the remnants of breakfast.

Until another thought occurred to her, and she had to ask. "What about Rose?"

"She's still lost," he replied with a sad smile and a sigh.

"I'm sorry," Donna murmured.

"I know," he said with a stronger smile. He knew Donna would be good companion material - she wasn't even jealous when he mentioned former companions. And even the first time, when she'd found out about Rose, she'd only been furious at him for her sake, with her mistaken impression that he was a serial kidnapper.

She finished her tea, then managed a sheepish laugh. "I didn't meant to bring up uncomfortable subjects, Spaceman. Let's talk about something else. What are we going to do to stop this mess?"

"Well, we're going to get back into Adipose Industries. It's the centre, the core, so there has to be something I can hack into and use to find out what's going on so we can stop it."

"That sorts you...but what about me?" Donna asked, an eyebrow raised. "I mean, I could always pretend I'm a new hire, but that's a bit risky. Especially cos at least one of the blokes in the call centre will recognise me."

"How did you get in yesterday?" He raised an eyebrow at her, curious.

"Had a two-day job with Health and Safety, kept my badge when I quit cos this Adipose thing wasn't right. Handy little tool, but I can't pretend to be Health and Safety two days in a row."

"Nooo, but you could, possibly... oh, I don't know, pretend to be a journalist? Maybe for one of the papers?"

"And then they call and find out I'm an imposter? I don't want to find out what that creepy Ms. Foster does to nosy investigators." She shuddered.

"Creepy Ms. Foster?" He raised an eyebrow.

"Well, I didn't like how fanatical she was at the end of the presentation. When she said 'Britain _will_ be thin', like no one was allowed to have a choice. And then later, when I was in the call centre cubes trying to see what a representative knew about it all, she was pretty vicious about them making more sales or else, even if she was almost polite about it. And those thugs she had..."

"Wait wait wait half a tick. You were in the cubes then, too?" He started laughing and shook his head. "Oh Donna, so was I! We just missed each other!"

"No!" She stared at him, then laughed. "I wonder what would've happened if we'd seen each other then?"

"I dunno, but we'd have ended up here having breakfast and plotting how to break back in and stop all this anyway," he said, grinning broadly.

"Yeah, probably," she nodded, then sighed sadly. "I kind of wish we had found each other in the cubes. Poor Stacy Campbell might still be alive if we had."

He rested a hand over hers, then sighed. "She probably wasn't even the first one...we would have to look into mysterious disappearances to confirm that, though."

"If you've got wi-fi, I can look that up quick enough. Conspiracy website where I found out about Adipose Industries in the first place... if there's been other disappearances, they might know."

"Yes I do. I mean, technically it's wi-fi, but the TARDIS does it... hold on a minute! You brought a laptop?" He boggled at her a moment.

"Course I did. I thought there might be a super outer-space way to keep up with my emails, at least." She raised an eyebrow at him. "Dunno how long we're going to be gone as far as Earth time goes, and I do have _some_ friends who'll miss me. And it'd be kind of nice, if I'm allowed, to send my granddad some pictures of places we go."

"Of course you can. But just to him, and make sure he knows not to show them about."

"Daft prawn, that's what you are. Of course he'll know not to show'em around. Just like he'll never show that moon rock around."

"Of course he won't. I'm sorry, Donna, I didn't mean to insult your granddad. Or you. It's just..."

"Just what? Not used to companions who come already packed and ready for anything?" She smiled at him, silly spaceman that he was.

"Yeaaah," he drew it out, then grinned at her. "I'm also not used to companions wanting to contact their families regularly. Martha... all she wanted to do was be able to talk to them on the phone every now and then, but with how her entire family tended to make her the mediator for all their disputes, I think she was rather pleased to not have to deal with all that for a while. And Rose..." He trailed off in a sigh and shook his head. "She would occasionally want to call and visit her mother, but it wasn't very often."

"Well, if her mum was anything like mine, I'm not sure I blame her," Donna smiled wryly and started stacking her empty plates.

"Nah, Jackie was nicer than your mum. Although, both she and Francine - that's Martha's mother - slapped me and your mum hasn't... but still. She was nice, once she got used to me."

"Give Mum a chance, I'm sure she'll at least think about slapping you," Donna said with a smirk, then looked around the kitchen. "Where do dirty dishes go?"

"Here, give them to me. There's a dishwasher, looks like a cupboard." He took her plates, stacked them on his, then opened a cupboard and stuffed the lot inside. "There. TARDIS will take care of them from there."

"All right then, let's go quick look up that website and see if anyone else has vanished cos of Adipose, then we'll go break in and I'll figure out something to do while you're hacking into whatever."

 

* * *

 

The Doctor took a few minutes to look around Donna's room while she started up her laptop. She'd taken time to unpack at some point between last night and breakfast, since the luggage was now gone, and she'd set out some mementos as well. Pictures mostly, although she did have quite a nice ceramic carousel on her dresser next to the moon rock, and some other figurines scattered tastefully about. An 'ah-hah!' brought him back to Donna's desk, where he looked over her shoulder. "Did you find something already?"

"Yeah, and remind me to find a way to hug the Old Girl or something similar, cos I have never had such a fast connection!" Donna grinned at the melodic chiming reply to her comment and stood up briefly to pat the wall in affection.

The Doctor looked on with both eyebrows raised. It usually took his companions ages to acknowledge that his TARDIS was alive, and some of them never did. And yet Donna was treating his ship just like another person and had been since last night... odd, that. Nice, but odd.

Donna sat back down and pointed at the screen. "Wasn't anything on the Adipose section directly, but they did have a forum for discussing the whole mess and I did a search... and look." She tapped four messages on the screen. "There's been four other missing people, that were taking the Adipose pills, and they all just vanished, leaving their clothes behind and everything. Just like poor Stacy Campbell."

"I see," murmured the Doctor as he leant over her shoulder to read the messages. "I could guess that they'd all five somehow witnessed the conversion of their own fat, but we won't know for sure unless we can corner Ms. Foster and question her. Which we'll do at some point today, definitely. Seeding a Level Five planet is against Galactic law."

"Seeding? Well, I suppose that's descriptive, they are growing little fat people..." Out of habit, before closing down her laptop she checked her email and found one from her granddad. She opened it and read it, then groaned. "Oh no...one of Mum's friends is on the Adipose pills. Lost loads of weight and they're all going out to a wine bar tonight after work to celebrate it." She looked up at the Doctor, worry in her eyes. "If Mum loses a friend to something weird like this, so soon after losing Dad, it's gonna kill her."

"Don't panic, Donna. We are going to break in, figure out exactly what's going on, and we're going to put a stop to it. Your mum's friend is going to be safe, I promise you."

"Yeah," she murmured, then signed out and shut down her laptop. As she stood, she said, more firmly. "Yeah. We're gonna pull the plug on Adipose Industries."

They shared a smile, then left for the console room where a quick hop saw them parked in an alley just outside the building. There they split up, each to take up their own half of the investigation.


	3. Rising and Falling

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: This chapter, while it uses the second day's invasion of Adipose Industries as an outline, is substantially different in detail. I mean, seriously - Donna? Hiding in a toilet All Day?! Yeah, not happening. But yes I did leave some parts in because they were amusing. ;)
> 
> It feels weird to finally finish something not a one-shot, but there it is. The last chapter of Earlier Encounter.

 

* * *

 

Several hours later Donna was sat in one of the toilet stalls, blessing the Doctor and that odd little perception filter thingy he'd given her. From what he'd said about it, it would keep anyone from noticing her as long as she acted like she belonged, and it had. First thing she'd done was lurk and find some logins and passwords. Afterwards, she'd spent at least two hours in the call centre, acting normal while she raided the computers, and always, _always_ kept an eye out for Ms. Foster.

Something about that woman gave her chills, like she wasn't a normal person and could see through perception altering anythings. So she'd made sure to stay out of her sight - her goons, on the other hand, had gone past her three times and never noticed her. Some security they were, eh?

She smirked a bit as she flipped through some things she'd taken pictures of with her phone. It had been quite a piece of luck to find the woman's office empty for an hour during the lunch break, and she'd made the most of it. Not that she could exactly make heads or tails of what she'd found there, but she'd copied what she could with her phone's camera and sent it to the Doctor's phone.

Texting back and forth about the falsified data had been a welcome distraction for the Doctor. He hadn't had much luck with the computers, poor dear. Oh, he'd found access to the core all right, but it was locked up and sealed in some stupid way or other that she didn't quite understand. What she'd boiled his long-winded explanation down to mean was that he'd had to resort to trying to hack into the computer the old-fashioned way - with his brains and working hard at it, not using his sonic screwdriver to make it easy. And how modulated sound waves were supposed to make a computer spit up all its secrets was even more beyond her than trying to understand those deadlock seal thingies.

She absently noted the sound of someone getting into one of the other stalls a few down from her, but didn't pay too much attention, except to silently shift position so she had her heels on the toilet lid. The stall she was in was locked, and she'd taped an 'Out of Order' sign on it, so she should be safe enough.

Or so she thought until the door to the toilets opened again, and that creepy Ms. Foster walked in and said, "We know you're in here, so why don't you make this nice and easy and show yourself?" Then a moment later, Donna heard. "I'm waiting. I warn you, I'm not a patient woman. Now, out you come." That made her tuck her feet in tighter and send the Doctor a text on her silenced phone. 'Foster's right outside my hiding place! :O'

Then Ms. Foster sighed and said "Right. We'll do it the hard way. Get her."

Donna shivered, and barely noticed she'd got a text back from the Doctor. 'You'll be all right, hang on. I'm coming.' She wished he'd hurry, cos those thugs of Foster's were kicking open the stall doors, and it was all she could do to repress a whimper of fear as they got closer. And closer, and she cringed into a ball on the toilet. And closer, and Donna closed her eyes and tried to pretend she wasn't there as they reached the stall two down from her.

Her eyes popped open in surprise when the banging of the stall doors stopped, and she heard Ms. Foster say, "There you are."

Then Donna heard a familiar voice, she'd heard it just yesterday at the presentation. Some journalist, Penny something or other, she thought. "I've been through the records, Foster, and all of your results have been faked. There's something about those pills you're not telling us.

Ms. Foster replied, "Oh, I think I'll be conducting this interview, Penny."

And as Foster and her goons left, dragging the reporter, Donna heaved a sigh of relief and texted the Doctor. 'Safe. Foster got a reporter instead. Going to follow and see if she'll spill what's up.'

As she sneaked out into the empty call centre and followed the sounds of struggle, she got a text back. 'Glad you're safe. Will be there soon :)'

Donna rolled her eyes fondly, then crept silently through the empty and dark outer office, and hunkered down outside Ms. Foster's door.

 

* * *

 

So, Donna thought as she stood up to peek in through the window of the door. Those little white fat-people are called Adipose. She frowned and almost snorted as something she'd learnt in school years ago came back to her. That made her wonder if there really were aliens called Adipose, or if it was an entirely new race being created out of fat and just called the scientific name for Human body fat for lack of a more interesting name.

Then she jumped in surprise and almost squeaked as a hand rested itself on her shoulder. Her head spun to the side to be greeted by the cheery smile of the Doctor.

He peered through the round window as he murmured. "Hullo. Heard anything interesting?"

"Yeah," she murmured in reply after her heart had stopped trying to pound its way out of her chest. Then she peeped in the window again, trying to catch a glimpse of what was going on. "The little fat-people. They're called Adipose."

He nodded, and the smile left his face. "I should have guessed from the name of the place. Adipose Industries."

Donna's jaw dropped, and she turned to look at the Doctor. "There's really aliens called Adipose? Cos I just remembered that adipose tissue is the fancy scientific name for fat, so I thought they were just swiping the name."

"Nah, there really are aliens called Adipose," the Doctor replied as he looked back into the office - to find Ms. Foster staring right at them. "Oh dear."

Donna looked back into the room, and her eyes widened in fright - they'd been noticed! "What are we gonna do, Doctor?"

"Run!" He shouted and used his sonic to lock the office door, grabbed her hand and almost dragged her out of there.

Donna screamed softly as the sound of gunfire broke the stillness and quiet of the after-hours, and she almost beat the Doctor into the stairwell. "Why? Why do the bad guys always have to have big guns? Seriously, why?"

"Because big guns are scary? Because they're compensating for something? I dunno," he replied as he started up the stairs. "Come on!"

 

* * *

 

As they reached the roof and ran across it to the window-washer's cradle, Donna asked. "Why'd we come up here? Wouldn't we have done better to run down, try and get to the TARDIS?"

"I never did manage to hack into the core of the computer from down below. If we can keep them running in circles as we go back down to her office, maybe I can hack in from there, shut this place down." He finished his work with the sonic on the controls, then motioned up the stairs. "In you get!"

She stared at him in disbelief as he climbed the metal ladderlike staircase and climbed into the cradle. "What, in that thing?"

From inside, he motioned her to join him. "Yes, in this thing."

She climbed the stairs, but she was frowning. "But if we go down in it, they'll just call us back up again."

He helped her in, then used the sonic to start their descent. "No, no, no, because I've locked the controls with a sonic cage. I'm the only one that can control it. Well, unless she's got a sonic device of her own, which is very unlikely."

"Oh, well that's all right then," she replied as they descended. London looked very nice from way up here at night, she thought. Pretty, and not grungy at all.

A few minutes later, she heard something electric snap and crackle, then the cradle started dropping very rapidly. She fell down into the bottom and screamed, but the Doctor did something sonic-y and it jolted to a stop. Then she glared at him from the bottom of the cradle, arms and legs akimbo. "I thought you said it wasn't likely she had a sonic doo-dad!"

"Well, it wasn't!" He started trying to sonic open the window, but groaned as a ka-thunk sounded. The woman had deadlocked the building! That meant she had the whole tower-block wired up! But what for?! "Can't get it open!"

"Well, smash it then!" Donna snapped as she stood up, and started beating on the glass with a spanner that she'd found with her bottom while they'd been falling.

Some half-heard sound made her look up and, horrified at what she saw, she shouted. "She's cutting the cable!"And then the cable snapped, the cradle tilted, and Donna screamed in terror as she fell out.

Clutching the other cable, the Doctor shouted, hoping she'd managed to grab something, but terrified she hadn't. Sweet Prazithi, don't let him have lost her already! "Donna!"

Somehow Donna had managed to grab a brace that had stuck to the end of the cable, and was hanging on for dear life even as it cut into her hands. "Doctor!"

"Hang on!" He shouted and shifted his grip to the rail of the cradle, preparing to crawl down and haul her in.

"I am!" She snapped, then looked up to see the barest glimpse of Foster aiming something at the other cable and screamed. "Doctor! The other cable!"

He looked up, then pulled his sonic screwdriver out, aimed it at Foster's hand, and turned it on. Her sonic device sparked and made her drop it, and he put his sonic in his mouth, held onto the cable with one hand, and reached for the falling sonic...pen? He stared at it a moment, then put his screwdriver away and climbed up the cradle so he could sonic the window open, using her device to bypass the deadlock.

"I'm going to fall!" Donna screamed as his climbing jostled the cradle and made her swing around. London didn't look so pretty now - it looked scary and really rather fatal.

The Doctor slid the unlocked window open and hoisted himself up to it. "Hang on, won't be a minute!" And then he fell in the window with a thud.

"This is all your fault! I should've stayed at home!" Then she growled as his foot went in the window and muttered. "Blasted Spaceman better hurry."

A minute or two later, just as she was about to get vertigo from the wild and scary glimpses of the street below, she felt someone grabbing her legs. Instinctively she kicked, and shouted. "Get off!"

"It's me!" The Doctor shouted up at her. "I've got you, stop kicking!"

Donna glanced down and saw familiar pinstriped arms wrapped around her legs. So, praying he was stronger than he looked, she let go the brace and screamed just a little as she fell into his arms.

He pulled her in easily, then set her on her feet with a grin. "Told you I'd got you."

"I was right," she huffed as she straightened the jacket of her suit. "It's always like this with you, innit?"

"Oh yes!" He grinned, and grabbed her hand when she grinned back, and they ran for the office door, not having time at the moment to stop and hack the computer. "And off we go to give them a bit more of a runaround!"

"Oi!" The reporter Donna hadn't even noticed shouted, and they stopped outside before the Doctor looked back in."Sorry," he said, and used his sonic to cut her bonds. "Now do yourself a favour and get out!"

Then he grabbed Donna's hand again and they were off and running through the call centre. Well, until they had to skid to a halt or run into Ms. Foster and her goons.

"Well, then. At last." Ms. Foster smiled and took off her glasses.

Donna waved a little. "Hello."

The Doctor grinned and said, "Nice to meet you, I'm the Doctor."

"And I'm Donna."

"Partners in crime," Ms Foster said, and watched the pair look at each other. "And evidently off-worlders, judging by your sonic technology."

"Oh yes," the Doctor said with a bright tone. "I've still got your sonic pen! Nice, I like it. Sleek."

"Oh, it's definitely sleek," Donna said, not wanting the creepy woman to think she wasn't equal to the Doctor. "And it writes as well as sonics - I like it."

"Yeah?" He grinned at Donna for catching that little detail, then looked at Ms. Foster, who was putting her glasses back on. "And if you were to sign your real name, that would be?"

"Matron Cofelia of the Five Straighten Classabindi Nursery Fleet. Intergalactic Class." She gave them a Look over the top of her glasses as the Doctor interrupted.

"A wet nurse, using Humans as surrogates." He was finally beginning to understand this situation. Now he had to get as much information out of her as possible, then somehow get himself and Donna back down to the core so he could use Cofelia's sonic pen to get past the deadlock. And she was answering, so he needed to pay attention to her, not his vague plans. He did better by the seat of his pants anyway.

"I've been employed by the Adiposian First Family to foster a new generation after their breeding planet was lost." Cofelia said, still watching them with a smile.

"What do you mean, lost?" The Doctor asked, confused and hiding it with annoyance. "How do you lose a planet?"

"Oh, politics are none of my concern. I'm just here to take care of the children on behalf of the parents."

"What, like an outer-space super-nanny?" Donna asked, hoping that Foster, Cofelia, whatever her name was, would stop smiling like that. It was creeping her out.

"Yes, if you like." And, as if she knew how much it was bothering Donna, Cofelia smiled a bit broader.

"So, those little things, they're made out of fat, yeah, but that woman, Stacy Campbell, there was nothing left of her." So much for making her stop smiling... maybe she could get some answers instead.

"Oh, in a crisis the Adipose can convert bone and hair and internal organs." Cofelia smiled like a proud mother, then, as she continued, made a little moue of sympathy. "Makes them a little bit sick, poor things."

Absolutely aghast and indignant, Donna near-shouted, "What about poor Stacy?!"

Much more serious now, the Doctor interjected. "Seeding a level five planet is against galactic law."

That finally wiped the smile off Cofelia's face. "Are you threatening me?"

"I'm trying to help you, Matron. This is your one chance, because if you don't call this off, then I'll have to stop you."

"I hardly think you can stop bullets," Cofelia said, face nearly expressionless.

"No, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on." The Doctor stepped half in front of Donna, his arm poised to sweep her behind him if necessary.

Donna squeaked as the Doctor started running his gob and put himself half in front of her, his arm brushing her bosom. But she didn't say anything about it, because she thought he was prepping to just shove her behind him. Which was really sweet, but wouldn't help against those ridiculously large guns. The bullets would just go right through him and get her anyway, so what did that silly man have in mind?

"One more thing, before dying," the Doctor continued as he fished out his own sonic, then brought it close to the sonic pen. "Do you know what happens if you hold two identical sonic devices against each other?"

"No." Cofelia made a gesture, and her goons took better aim at the Doctor and Donna.

"Nor me," the Doctor said with a bit of excitement. "Let's find out!"

A horrible, cacophonous noise is what happened, Donna thought as she held her ears and bent over in excruciating pain. Weird though, Cofelia and her goons were actually crying out in agony, so it hurt them more. And of course the Doctor was just grinning and sonicing away, flippin alien git! A pane of glass shattered and, since she'd had more than enough of the noise, she shoved the Doctor in the arm and made him stop. "Come on!"

 

* * *

 

Donna puffed as they came to a stop down in the basement, and held a hand to her side. She didn't quite have a stitch, but it was close. "I see you weren't kidding about all the running. Oh, and why are we hiding in a cupboard by tossing everything out? Isn't that like this big sign saying 'We're hiding here, come get us?"

"Well," the Doctor started as he heaved a ladder and assorted things out. "It would be a problem, except Madam Cofelia has the entire tower block wired up, though I still haven't figured out why, or what it's all for. But all I need to do is get us tucked away in here and open the door to the core, and I can insure us a bit of privacy."

Donna dodged a fluorescent jacket, a bucket and a mop, then entered when he waved his hand. "So how're you going to do that, genius?"

"Bit of sabotage to create stun zones to intercept any pursuit," he said with a shrug, then opened up the wall and pulled Cofelia's sonic pen out. "Oh, and this to get past the deadlock that's had me stymied all day."

"So, the sonic pen is like a key to get you past that seal thing?" She paused, then grinned at him. "Dibs on the pen when you're done with it, by the way."

"What do you want the pen for?" He gave her a puzzled frown as he finished setting up his stun zones, then smiled faintly as he heard the guards run into one.

"Well, cos your screwdriver's all large and obvious, yeah, so when we get captured by other people in the future, they're gonna look at that and say 'Yep, get this off that clever-clogs straightaway or he'll use it to be trouble.'. But me with a pen - specially if I get a pocket notebook to go with it - they'll probably just let that slide and we'll still have something on hand to get us out with." Donna blinked in surprise as he pulled up several wires and handed them to her, then started sonicing individual ones.

He gave her a long, considering look as he continued his work with the wires, creating a sort of wire ladder crossing across the core. He had never had someone spend essentially two days with him and decide to plan for the long haul of trouble. Yes, they'd constantly find trouble, but he'd never had a companion who thought to plan ahead for it. And if he told her she was brilliant for thinking ahead like that, she'd disparage herself. So all he could do, really, to show how impressed he was in a way she'd accept was to give her a slow grin and say, "That... actually sounds very useful. So I'll not only give you the pen when we're done, but I'll also teach you how to use it."

"I'll hold you to that," Donna said with a grin, then watched as he continued to sonic wiring and plug them in to cross over the core thing. "So, what're you doing now?"

"Creating a primary override circuit network so I can cancel out the signal as it's being broadcast," he said, then paused as a computer voice said "Inducer activated."

"That doesn't sound good," Donna said, worrying at her lip but holding the rest of the wires steady. "What's it doing?"

"She's started the programme," he tersely replied as he sped up his work, while the computer voice interjected again with "Inducer transmitting". He growled as he worked, hands nearly a blur as he snatched wires from Donna and strung them where he needed them. "So far they're only losing weight, but the Matron's going to go to emergency parthenogenesis."

"And that's when they convert," Donna said, and her eyes widened as he pulled out the pendant he'd taken apart to study last night. Now, what was he going to do with that?

"Skeleton, organs, everything. A million people are going to die unless I cancel the signal." He gently but quickly pulled the pendant apart, then carefully uncoiled the wire from the top of the circuitry. "This pendant has a copy of the primary signal. So, I wire it in thus," He attached it by the coil to the central wire of his ladder, then soniced the ends where it connected into the computer core. "And the override circuit network now has what it needs to tune in and counter the broadcast."

"That's really brilliant, Doctor," Donna smiled, but it fell off her face a moment later when the computer voice said "Inducer increasing".

He hadn't even had time to react to her compliment before the inducer hopped to emergency mode. "No, no, no, no, no! She's doubled it before the override could start working! I need... haven't got time. It's too far. I can't override it! They're all gonna die!"

"Doctor, is there anything I can do to help? Something you need I can get?" Donna was trying very hard not to panic, cos out there in London, at DeRossi's Wine Bar, her mum was going to have to watch Suzette die right in front of her if he couldn't stop the signal.

"Sorry, but this is way beyond you. I need to double the base pulse to counter the signal increase, but I can't cos I've only got the one capsule!" He met her eyes, desperation written on his face. "I can't save them!"

"Yeah you can." Donna thanked her lucky stars that she'd put the pendant she'd confiscated last night in the pocket of her suit, then pulled it out and offered it to him with a smile. "Cos I have another capsule. So get to it, Spaceman!'

"You brilliant Earthgirl!" He beamed, took the pendant from her, and wired it in, then laughed a little as the entire computer core shut down. "We did it!"

"You did it," Donna said with a sigh of relief. At least she wouldn't have to worry about her mum falling to pieces cos a friend died in front of her.

"No, we did it. Cos without you having one of those capsules, I wouldn't have been able to override the signal. Congratulation, Donna Noble, you just helped save a million people!"

"Fine. If you're insisting on sharing the credit when you did all the work, then we did it." She smiled, then hugged him. He was quite huggable, for a skinnyboy.

"I absolutely insist," he said with a grin, then hugged her back. Very good hugs from Donna, he'd never pass one up. And she didn't fight as hard when assigned credit as he'd feared she might... perhaps it wouldn't be such a hard job to help her find confidence in herself after all.

Their hug was interrupted by a noise. From outside the building, but loud enough for them to hear from their cupboard in the basement."What the hell was that?" Donna asked, flinching as it happened again.

"That... would probably be the nursery," the Doctor said as a faint vibration shook the tower.

"And when you say nursery, you don't mean like a creche in Notting Hill." Donna eyed the walls and ceiling warily, but the vibration stopped and the room didn't even have a crack.

"Nursery ship," the Doctor replied, and reluctantly disentangled himself from Donna's arms. Just in time for the computer core to reactivate, and for a moment he felt a surge of panic as he feared the signal would be broadcast again.

"Hadn't we better go and stop them?" And almost as on cue, an alien voice started speaking. It sounded like garbled nonsense to her, but the Doctor had tilted his head to listen like he just about understood it.

"Hang on. We've got instructions coming in from the Adiposian First Family." He frowned at the computer, head tilted, then smacked himself in the head. "Of course! That's why she needed to wire up the entire tower block! She's converted it into a levitation post!"

"Well, I suppose if the nursery ship doesn't have tons of shuttles or transporters or something, then she'd need to float the Adipose babies up..." Donna trailed off as the computer made more noises that sounded like a mush-mouth on a badly-serviced drive-thru speaker, but apparently meant trouble from the way he tensed and looked ready to explode into action.

"Exactly!" The Doctor's eyes widened as he heard what was being ordered now, then headed for the door. "Oh dear. We're not the ones in trouble now - she is! Come on!"

"And here we go again," Donna muttered as she followed him out the door and started running behind him. Speaking of behinds, he had a rather nice one though his trousers were showing signs of his day. She'd have to remember to tell him sometime to get his suit cleaned...

 

* * *

 

Once they hit the roof, Donna slowed to a walk to catch her breath. "I'll say one thing, Spaceman. Travelling with you is probably going to be the best exercise plan in the universe."

He grinned at her, then motioned her to join him at the edge of the roof. "Aww, look at that! That's not something even I see every day!" He beamed at her, then gestured at the levitating Adipose babies.

"Hope you're not planning to blow'em up, they're adorable," Donna said as she joined him near the edge.

"Nope. They're just children. They can't help where they come from."

"Seems like that Martha of yours did you some good then," Donna said and gave him a wry smile.

"Yeah. Yeah, she did." He posed a bit, then said with a sniff, "She fancied me."

"Mad Martha then. Or maybe Blind Martha. Charity Martha? Unlike her, there'll be none of that fancying nonsense from me." She grinned at him, enjoying the chance to tease him, then waved at some of the Adipose and smiled in disbelief when they waved back. "I'm waving at fat."

"Yeah," he said, grinning, and waved at some of the Adipose as well. "If there hadn't been so many issues, the least of which being that Earth's a level five planet aaand no one asked permission, this could've been a really good diet plan."

"Yeah, but even five deaths is five too many, and she was willing to kill a million people." Donna sighed, then frowned as Matron Cofelia finally came into sight. There was ten, maybe twenty metres between her and the last Adipose, and then she stopped at roof height. That made Donna worry - what were they planning?

"There she is! Matron Cofelia, listen to me!" The Doctor now stood at the hip-height barrier at roof edge and extended a hand to her.

"Oh, I don't think so Doctor. And if I never see you again, it will be too soon." Matron Cofelia hovered in the air, hands clasped together in front of her, and gave the pair a disdainful look.

"Why does no one ever listen?" The Doctor growled out his question to an unsympathetic universe and a slightly confused Donna. "I'm trying to help you! Just come over here to the roof. Can you shift the levitation beam?"

With sardonic amusement, Cofelia asked, "What? So you can arrest me?"

"Just listen to me!" The Doctor pleaded with her. "I saw the Adiposian instructions. They know it's a crime, breeding on Earth! So what does any criminal want to get rid of to stay safe? Their accomplice!"

"I'm far more than that," Cofelia said with smug pleasure. "I'm Nanny. To all these children!"

"Exactly!" The Doctor tried again to convince her, even stretching his hand out as far as he could. "Mum and Dad have got the kids now, they don't need the nanny anymore!"

Donna thought he'd finally got through to her, but before Cofelia could even drift close enough to flail for the Doctor's hand, the levitation beam cut off. As Cofelia fell screaming, poor woman, Donna grabbed the Doctor's shirt and hauled him back to safety on the rooftop, then buried her face in his chest. "...that... what they did to her... that was horrible."

"I know," he murmured and wrapped his arms around Donna seeking comfort for failing yet again to save someone.

They looked up as the ship made that extraordinarily loud noise again, and Donna thought she caught a glimpse of lots of sad Adipose babies before the ship rose and flashed and vanished. "Oh, those poor babies. They had to see Cofelia get murdered, and at least some of them knew her. I hope they'll be all right."

"Hopefully the rest of the crew will pay attention, but there's really nothing we can do." He sighed as they headed back toward the roof access. "I mean, I could call in the Shadow Proclamation, but they'd end up punishing the children as well as all adults involved."

"Probably best not then. They didn't ask to get born, they certainly don't deserve to get punished for it. I just wish..." She trailed off as they went down the stairs, and finally - finally! - got to use a lift for once!

"Yeah." He had his arm wrapped around her the entire trip down in the lift, and they shared a sad silence until they got outside. Where they were confronted by Penny Carter, strapped to a chair once again, and still managing to hobble about.

"Oi! You two! You... you're just mad! Do you hear me? Mad! And I'm going to report you for... for madness!" On saying that, she struggled off and away from them, still strapped into that chair.

"Didn't we free her from that chair a while ago?" Donna asked the Doctor as they took in the crowd and the crowd-control barriers that had been set up to try and keep the vultures away from Cofelia's corpse.

"Yeah. She's a reporter though, so she obviously didn't listen to me telling her to get out." He offered Donna his arm and dug around in his pocket until he found his own perception filter and turned it on. "Turn on your perception filter, Donna, and let's get out of here."

"Wha? Oh, yeah," Donna muttered as she turned the pendant back on, then let him lead them back to the TARDIS. She was still trying to process everything that had happened, so it was a good thing he was there and helping her eel unnoticed through the growing crowd.

 

* * *

 

Back in the TARDIS at last, Donna sighed and patted the console on her way around it to collapse in the jump seat. She was exhausted, mostly in a good way, and she wanted to rest a bit before she went to fix dinner. It was only fair - he'd done breakfast at what now felt like a day or two ago, so she should do her part too.

The Doctor followed her in and frowned faintly as she dropped into the seat. "Are you all right?"

"Yeah, I'm good. Just tired and taking advantage of the chance to really relax without having to worry about anything." She smiled at him, then made a shooing motion."Go on, do what you were going to do. But get prepared to give me lessons in at least how to help you, Spaceman, cos there's too much console for you to properly manage on your own."

"Been doing it pretty much all my days with the Old Girl," he replied with a shrug and sent them into the Vortex.

"Well yeah, but it'd be easier if there was someone around to help you with it, wouldn't it?" She smiled and leaned back with her eyes closed so she couldn't be accused of ogling that nice bum of his.

"Suppose it might be," he said and turned to look at her, and smiled when she opened her eyes to look at him. "Why d'you want to, though? Everyone else has been fine with me doing the work."

"Mostly cos of emergencies, so you'll eventually need to teach me it all. But partly cos it'd make things easier on you, and that's what friends do."

"Yeah," he said with a grin, then leaned on the console, crossed one ankle over the other and shoved his hands in his pockets. "So, do you want to start learning now?"

"I'd planned on making dinner. But if you're offering a lesson right now, I could start the meal later." She smiled and stood up to join him at the console, then paid sharp attention as he started identifying controls and explained what each one did in the course of flight.

About an hour and a half later, he grinned at her then asked, "Care to take a short trip and give you some practical experience?"

"I'd love it!" Donna grinned at him, then asked, "So, where're we going?"

"It's a surprise," He grinned back, then added just before he pulled the handbrake, "All you need to do this trip is keep the flight steady."

"I can do that," Donna said, with a confidence she wasn't really feeling, and took a deep breath to steady her nerves as he pulled the handbrake. But to her surprise, with his concise explanations and her heightened learning abilities she'd honed as a temp, she was managing everything quite nicely for a first time. There was a jostle here and a wobble there, but she was really doing it! She was really helping him fly the TARDIS!

He grinned as he watched Donna shift from a trepidation she'd thought she'd hidden from him to sheer delight as they made this short little trip. And he was feeling pride in her as he pulled the handbrake again for the landing. Yes, it had only been a very short trip, and only distance not a proper trip through time, but she'd handled everything almost as well as he could have. He loved her ability to pick things up quickly - this was going to be brilliant! As the door opened, though, his grin got wider as Donna spun round in surprise.

"Granddad?!" She spun back round and darted over to hug the Doctor. "Oh, thank you! I could've told him by phone but this is so much better!"

"My pleasure," he said, and the grin just stayed put as she went to hug Wilf, then inundated him with a summary of their day. It was such little, Human, things that made her happy. He'd have to remember that for future reference.

Later, after they'd let Wilf go so he could head on home, the Doctor frowned in puzzlement as Donna left the console room. They were in the Vortex, so he didn't need to do anything but follow her. "Donna?"

"No, you can't help me with dinner, Doctor. You did breakfast, it's only fair I should kick in a meal in exchange."

"You don't have to, I know you're tired." He caught up with her and stopped her just outside the kitchen. "And so am I for once - sandwiches and tea will be fine."

"Yeah, but that's cheating. I was gonna cook..." Then she caught herself mid-yawn and that probably meant she had to swallow her pride and cook another day. "Fine, point made. But I am gonna cook at some point in the near future."

"And I'm looking forward to it," he replied. And he really was, too, he thought as they made and ate their meal and talked about inconsequentials to wind down from their long day. Donna was amazing, and he was determined to give her a chance to shine in every way she could as he showed her the universe.


End file.
